Lone - Ecstasy & Friends

‘Ecstasy & Friends’, Lone’s first full-length outing on Werk Discs, is a rejuvenating step back from the undeniable bass driven style that has dominated the UK underground scene in recent years. Dreamy memories of Madlib are likely first impressions from these full-frontal productions, which come on like extensive workouts in melody and playful beats. Intriguing shades of post-club nostalgia pervade, underlined by warm, enveloping synths, while parallel sympathetic strands of muscular rhythm hit the mind and body with a refreshing and clean sound, willing and ready to go as hard in clubs as it does on the ears. This much-anticipated album fuses FlyLo-esque haziness and 808 drums and claps through a crate-digging production sound, which is as joy-reelingly bounce-laden as it is slaved-over and meticulous in its execution. Although inevitably grouped with the current trippier than trip-hop movement of beat exploders, Lone’s output is immediately distinct from his contemporaries. His tunes stand out a mile as they strive to maintain groove and soul, switching effortlessly from the hip-house-in-space stylings of 'Endlessly', to a futurist R&B groove on 'Waves Imagination'. Delving into every beat pocket, ‘Ecstacy & Friends’ hot-spotlights Lone's perpetual experimentation within hip hop’s perimeters. A staple of the renowned Wigflex nights, Lone’s homegrown Nottingham sound comes from a proven breeding ground of fertile talent, which also birthed the exceptional off-centre styles of Geiom and Spamchop. Yet as he has grown out of the city, his unrivalled music has grown too, taking in sounds from further afield along the way. His debut album ‘Lemurian’ (Dealmaker) was a lesson in sampling aimed at headphone appreciation - a collection of Dilla-style beats with subtlety and intricacies in full flow. This new release shifts towards something far more club ready and charmingly thuggish, aligned to the likes of Dam Funk, Zomby and Terrence Dixon - a selection of producers between whom the only real connection is a stylistic distinction founded on massive originality. Lone sits alongside them perfectly. And rightly so.

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